Seattle DUI victims moved here for grandson

Suspect Mark Mullan expected to be charged by Thursday

CASEY MCNERTHNE, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By CASEY MCNERTHNEY, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 10:46 pm, Tuesday, March 26, 2013

This picture shows Dennis and Judy Schulte, the couple who was killed March 25 by a man police say was driving drunk. They had moved to Seattle from Indiana and were elated for the birth of their grandson, who was 10-days old when police say he was hit by the same driver. The boy and his mother who was carrying him were in critical condition Tuesday at Harborview Medical Center.

Photo: KOMO/4

This picture shows Dennis and Judy Schulte, the couple who was...

Flowers are shown at a growing memorial at 33rd Avenue NE and NE 75th Street on Tuesday, March 26, 2013 in Seattle. Two people were killed when hit by a truck the day before. A mother and her ten day-old infant were also critically injured. Police said the driver's blood-alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit. (Joshua Trujillo, seattlepi.com)

Flowers are shown at a growing memorial at 33rd Avenue NE and NE...

Mark Mullan, the man suspected of killing two pedestrians and sending two others to Harborview Medical Center with critical injuries, was arrested at the scene Monday. He was convicted earlier this year of another DUI in Seattle. (Jon Humbert/KOMO/4)

Mark Mullan, the man suspected of killing two pedestrians and...

Mark Mullan's former wife said in court documents that's he's had a long battle with substance abuse. Mullan and his attorney have not commented. He is expected to be charged by Thursday with vehicular assault and vehicular homicide.

Photo: JORDAN STEAD

Mark Mullan's former wife said in court documents that's he's had a...

A boy makes a phone call near the scene of a North Seattle car-pedestrian collision on Monday, March 25, 2013. There were four victims, including a 33-year-old woman and her 10-day-old son. That infant's grandparents died at the scene. (Jordan Stead, seattlepi.com)

A boy makes a phone call near the scene of a North Seattle...

Vehicular homicide suspect Mark Munnal is led away from the collision scene on Monday, March 25, 2013 near Northeast 75th Street and 33rd Avenue Northeast.

Photo: JORDAN STEAD

Vehicular homicide suspect Mark Munnal is led away from the...

A mother and her 10-day-old child were critically injured and the boy's grandparents were killed by a man police said was drunk Monday, March 25, at Northeast 75th Street and 33rd Avenue Northeast. (Google Maps)

He allegedly admitted drinking it Monday before, police said, he plowed his black Chevy truck into Dennis and Judy Schulte, killing the couple who came to Seattle for their new grandson and his parents.

That 10-day-old boy, Elias Jose, was thrown from the arms of his mother, Karina Schulte, as they crossed Northeast 75th Street at 33rd Avenue Northeast. Both were still in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center on Tuesday.

Mullan, who has a long history of DUI-related incidents, claimed the sun was in his eyes, and that he drank the 1 1/2-ounces of Bacardi hours earlier.

But a Seattle police DUI specialist said the 50-year-old smelled of alcohol and showed impairment on all field sobriety tests. He didn't have a valid license or a court-ordered ignition interlock.

Mullan, whose attorney didn't comment to reporters Tuesday, is expected to be charged with vehicular homicide and assault by Thursday. His blood-alcohol level was .22 – nearly triple the legal limit, according to a preliminary police test.

Mullan twice pleaded guilty to separate incidents of DUI in Puyallup in 1990 and had another DUI arrest in King County four years later. He also has an active DUI case from an October arrest in Snohomish County.

And he was drinking Bacardi on Christmas – the day he twice smashed the same black truck into the Seal's Motel on Aurora Avenue North, police said. Mullan was so drunk, investigators said, he had to be helped into a patrol car and had trouble putting on his slippers. A witness who had seen the 50-year-old drive onto Aurora Avenue North grabbed the keys from the ignition so Mullan couldn't hurt anyone.

At the station, police said his two Breathalyzer readings registered a .32 – four times the legal blood-alcohol limit. He was supposed to sign consent forms, but an officer took his pen away after they said Mullan grabbed it like a weapon and threatened to kill someone.

In 2008 court documents, Mullan's former wife said he drove when he was high and endangered their two children. She wrote that he'd admitted to driving around high in his truck and spent nights at Green Lake with his drug dealer friend. Though Mullan had shown periods of stability after some rehab stints, substance abuse patterns ended his job as a journeyman electrician, Mullan's former wife wrote.

"Mark has been a drug user for as long as I have known him, which is approximately twenty-one years," she told the court. "... I can't take it anymore and my kids deserve better than coming home to a father who is either high on cocaine all the time or is leaving them on their own so he can go score a drug deal."

All allegations from Mullan's former wife haven't been proven. But he did plead guilty to DUI for the Christmas Day incident.

The 50-year-old was ordered held on $2.5 million bail Tuesday afternoon. He didn't answer reporters' questions as he was being led away from the scene Monday, his attorney didn't return a call for comment and a number for Mullan was disconnected.

A family member who didn't want to be identified said Mullan has been trying to control his heavy drinking, but a recent tragedy sent him in a tailspin.

"I know he's really sad because his (48-year-old) brother passed away last October," the family member said. "It affected him a lot."

Schulte, the 33-year-old mother who was injured, works as a pediatric nurse in Seattle and is from Chile. Neighbors said she and her husband had moved to the neighborhood last year.

Lacia Bailey, who raises goats, lives on the same block as the young couple and their son and was talking with Schulte shortly before the accident.

"They petted and kissed the goat seconds before this happened," Bailey said of the infant animal. "That's what the mom and I were talking about because she had her baby in a carrier too. She was asking how old mine was – seven days (Monday) night. She said 'Mine's a few days older.'

"It was the lightest conversation."

As the family walked away, Bailey continued speaking with some neighborhood kids.

"I looked up and a black truck hit them and people went flying," she said. "All four of them were laying separately on the ground. Blood coming out of their heads."

Schulte suffered a crushed pelvis and has cranial bleeding, according to prosecutors. Neighbors said they heard from the hospital that Schulte's condition was improving slightly.

Dennis and Judith Schulte were both longtime high school teachers; she taught English and was a head guidance counselor for years, while he taught math. They had moved to Seattle from Kokomo, Ind., in February to witness the birth of their first grandson.

They had planned to spend six months in Seattle to be near their son and his family and were renting an apartment near the intersection where they were killed.

"They were so elated. This is their only grandchild," Judith Schulte's sister, Susan Morton, said. "They wanted to be there when he was born. They got to hold him and be there with him for 10 days."